For the first time in weeks, the Ben Simmons narrative in Philadelphia appears to be moving in the direction of the All-Star guard suiting up for the 76ers this season. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Simmons met with the whole Sixers team on Friday morning and discussed the situation.
Simmons allegedly told the team that he wants to play at some point this season, but that he’s not in the right mental state to do so, a mantra he’s repeated a few times in recent weeks.
The next step, according to Wojnarowski, is for Simmons to undergo some form of assessment. It’s unclear whether this is a routine physical — he allegedly alerted the Sixers on Thursday that he was battling with back troubles — or whether it’s an attempt to get him to a point where he believes he can contribute.
Simmons was supposed to do an individual exercise at the team’s facilities on Thursday, but he showed up, said his back hurt, had some treatment, and left without doing the session. Later in the day, team executive Daryl Morey appeared on a local Philadelphia radio station and stated that he is willing to wait for Simmons to return or for the Sixers to re-sign players who helped them win a championship, and that he would rather wait out the remaining four years on Simmons’ contract than trade him for a package that does not meet the team’s expectations.
